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As Reconstruction progressed, blacks became more assertive and prominent in the southern Republican Party. African-Americans began to flex their political muscles despite common obstacles of white dominance. An example of momentary white repression occurred in South Carolina to black politician Robert B. Elliott, who later took a seat in the House. It is likely that South Carolina would have had an...

After a much disputed 1872 election, which saw both candidates claim governorship, Illinois carpetbagger William P. Kellogg was named governor over Democratic candidate, John McEnery in early 1873. Although The Courier-Journal reported the allegation that Kellogg's opponent, John McEnery, received almost 7,000 more votes, the Courier also revealed that Kellogg issued a bill of complaint. Here, Kellogg...

On February 3, 1874 Republican Senator John Sherman from Ohio presented a Bill in Congress with a purpose to stabilize and reissue the currency and provide for free banking. Sherman's Currency and Banking Bill was turned into an Inflation Bill' by the amendments made to it by several Western and Southern Congressmen from both the Republican and Democrat parties. The amended bill would bring...

Jay Cooke and Co., a major Philadelphia investment firm, set off the Panic of 1873 when it declared bankruptcy on September 18. The boom in railroad reconstruction in the South coupled with successful westward expansion projects such as the Union Pacific Railroad had caused investors and speculators to bet heavily on new transportation projects (like a second transcontinental railroad, the Northern...

On July 16, 1877 tensions over pay cuts for railway workers finally came to a head as firemen and brakemen for railroads in Baltimore went on strike. The strikers assembled at Camden Junction, 30 miles from Baltimore, and refused to allow trains to move in any direction. Word of the strike quickly spread to West Virginia, and eventually into Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Kentucky as other railway workers...

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868. President Johnson issued a proclamation announcing its ratification on July 11, 1868 in the aftermath of the amendment's acceptance in Florida and North Carolina. The radical Republican Congress that dominated Reconstruction enacted the measure. The 14th Amendment extended citizenship to blacks, overturning the Dred Scott decision...

On May 3rd three members of the Bartle family were brutally murdered by an Italian man who had worked the Bartle's fields. Accounts stated that there was an altercation the week prior to the murder between Bartle and the Italian worker over wages he felt he deserved. The family members killed were all struck in the head with a blunt object and were all found in a gruesome mannerEvents such as this...

For the 1876 gubernatorial race in South Carolina, the Democrats nominated General Wade Hampton, one of the state's most popular figures among the white population, and Republicans renominated Governor Chamberlain who was appointed during reconstruction. Hampton embarked on a tour of the state, accompanied by hundreds of armed supporters, while rifle clubs disrupted Republican rallies with violent...

The schoolyard of the Colored Academy at Pine River was alive with excitement on the afternoon of the tenth of January, 1873. George Green, a sturdy young man of around eighteen years, attempted to kiss the little bronze beauty Roberta. When Professor Thomas Henaforth discovered what had transpired outside of his school, he set out to punish the mischievous youth. At four o'clock in the afternoon,...

In January of 1873, after Elisha Baxter, a Republican, was elected as governor of Arkansas in 1872, Joseph Brooks, who was supported by Liberals, Democrats, and Arkansas Unionists, claimed that the election had been doctored' and that he was the rightful governor. After being informed that the Supreme Court of Arkansas had no jurisdiction in settling the decision and that it was up to the General...